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More than 200 New Bedford side streets remained unplowed as of Wednesday afternoon, confining residents to their homes even as main roads were cleared. Over 1,000 residents reached out to The Light to share their experiences while they waited for the snowplow to come.*

“My dad is 75 years old and he’s worked with the city his whole life. He is now retired. I don’t want him to be stubborn and start shoveling the street. It’s not good for his heart. Thank you for all the work that you guys do. I really appreciate the city workers. Remember to get some rest.” – Felix

“In our neighborhood we had a medical emergency, and the ambulance was unable to get to the house causing two EMTs to walk to the house with the emergency. Another ambulance was needed to help tow the first ambulance out because it got stuck.” – Amaris

“My grandparents are elderly and have lots of conditions. They have someone who comes to plow their driveway, but they have not been able to get down the street due to it not being plowed. They also have services that they need and it has not been plowed. DPI does not answer.” – Alex

“I’m 8 months pregnant and an essential worker. I’m concerned if my water breaks how emergency staff will get to me.” – Jessica

“We cannot go anywhere, and I had to cancel my surgery for tomorrow.” – Rosemary

“We haven’t seen a plow since Sunday afternoon. Insanity.” – Todd

“Necesitamos salir a trabajar y no podemos salir. Por favor ayúdenme.” 
“We need to leave to go to work and we can’t leave. Please help me.” – Linsy

“First Responders, City and Essential workers live on the street who could be at work helping but can’t get there due to our situation.” – Rena

“I am a first responder and cannot get down my street to my house. I had to park a half mile away in an unsafe area to walk back to my house.  I had to walk to my car at 4 a.m. so I could get to work. Just truly a nightmare.” – Kevin

“Kinda seems like my tax dollars don’t go to cleaning snow off streets.” –  Don 

“Necesitamos salir a comprar comidas. Tenemos niños pequeños.” 
“We need to leave to buy food. We have small children.” – Sara

“There are several elderly families on this street with significant medical issues. We used a ladder to get to our neighbor’s house just to clean the porch so they can open their front door.” – Monica

“Tem muita neve bloqueando os carros.” 
“There’s a lot of snow blocking the cars.” – Rogeiro

“I get it. I know they are working hard. I appreciate everyone’s efforts. But they did the other end of our street maybe Tuesday and then never came back.” – Margaret

“I can’t open any of my doors to get out. I’m 80.” – Alice 

“They came for 30 minutes then left again.” – Marvin

“Halp” – Mikayla

* Some comments have been lightly edited for grammar and clarity. This list was compiled by Brooke Kushwaha. Kevin G. Andrade and Maria Membreno contributed.

New Bedford residents battle snow in the streets

Photography by Eleonora Bianchi. Click for captions ↓

43 replies on “Has your street been plowed yet? New Bedford residents respond”

  1. My street was un-plowed till 1pm on Wednesday afternoon. Although I understand the circumstances, it’s very stressful when you are losing a days pay because you cannot make it out of your driveway. To the heavy equipment front loader operator who did Canterberry St. we all can’t thank you enough. This operator saved my self and my neighbors hours of shoveling.

  3. It’s 8:00pm Wednesday night and Arch St still hasn’t been touched. Not one plow or backhoe has even attempted to clear my street. There was a backhoe just one street over, around 3:00 pm today, so I was hopeful, but still nothing.

  4. Truro st in North end NB had not been plowed. Stuck at home goin on day 4. The infrastructure does not return calls. Somebody help us

    1. Pearl St. was plowed on Tuesday night and our cross street was plowed by a neighbor with a snowplow and help from others yesterday 2/25. It took all day. This was a record snowfall people! None of us like being forced to stay home but no one person had any say so in it. I’m sure DPI is not answering because they are doing the best they can.

  5. It’s only 10pm Wednesday night and my street is still not plowed. My Son waited an hour for an Uber to get to work. He was almost fired Tuesday because he can’t get down the street. 5 people live in my house and I’m unable to get to the grocery store so have to spend money at the convenience store. I hope they get here sometime soon

  6. I am one of the folks who wrote in. I understand that this is a historic storm and digging out is going to take time. But our street is not plowed while all the streets around us are. It’s like we’ve been forgotten. We are one street in from Rockdale so plows pass us all day. We are on Francis Street. Please send help to dig us out.

    1. Same here every street around us plowed , as they continue to drive by and just look down our Street . Acorn st Dpi still not answering!

  7. Thursday and haven’t seen a plow in days can’t get to any main road without getting stuck. Have to go to work.

  9. Barely and we have a big pile right next to the gate of our condo complex on Victoria St that we cannot see around to get out into the street. Saw one dinky plow yesterday and they did one narrow path….Victoria Street North End.

  11. This is day 4 now, and the city has left us for dead it seems. I don’t even know how much pay I have lost now. This is a great feeling when clearly the city doesn’t care about you, but when time comes for the tax bill, well it will still expect to be paid from all the money that got taken away. The mayor should over here shoveling out our road at this point. Not getting paid and running out of food, can someone come and do their job before I have to do it for them?

  12. They worked all night to clear our one block on E Clinton Street. All through the night. These guys deserve enormous credit. It’s really really hard work. Grateful

  13. I’m on hazard ct and even though the street is plowed there’s a huge snow bank and the adjacent road has not been touched by a plow just people trying to walk through it. Big inconvenience for us tax payers that has to work. Please send help!!!

  14. Lincoln Street is still unplowed. A tree down across the street needs to be removed. We need better communication from the city regarding planned responses to these issues that include scheduled plow routes with day and time windows. People on our street need groceries and some can’t go to work and have lost nearly a week’s pay. Senior neighbors need medicine. It is Thursday and we know nothing.

  15. Same here every street around us plowed , as they continue to drive by and just look down our Street . Acorn st Dpi still not answering!

  18. This storm has exposed how little preparation people take. The storm was forecast for days. You should have food and water stocked for at least a week. Readydotgov has very useful tips on how to prepare for this type of storm. Nobody should run out of food just a day or two into storm-imposed lockdown.

    1. Anonymous: Nobody is even concerned about food; instead people have to go to work otherwise they don’t get paid and the they won’t have food at all.

    2. You are so right. We were prepared and I really don’t feelj bad for those who weren’t. Exception, elderly and disabled, but someone should have taken care of them prior the storm.

  20. Day 4 – Weaver Street and Field street have not been touched, but you can see cars driving with ease along Dartmouth street. Why are all the dead end streets surrounding the Rural Cemetery left untouched!!!

  21. Thursday, and Robeson street in New Bedford still not plowed. There are elderly people in this neighborhood, including my parents, that are trapped in their homes and our personal snow blowers barely make a dent. Please send plows and snow removal crews before someone has an emergency!

  24. The corner of Newton and Kempton Street, on the left side near Bizarro Store that Street has not been plowed

  25. The side streets next to where I live which is Myrtle st and Van Buren has not been plowed. When I do see a plow passing by they usually have the plow up which makes absolutely no sense at all to me. It’s a mess out there in the streets not to mention very dangerous and unsafe for drivers. Hopefully the mayor does something about the side streets because it’s awful.

  27. Half of Hall street in the south end off of county st has not been touched. They came Tuesday night and plowed half of the street and left the other half with out being touched.

  32. Dee
    Maxfield St has not been plowed
    I do know it’s bad out there. But please I can’t drive because the snow needs to be plowed. I do need the help.

    I’m live alone
    Thank -you

    I

  34. Left side of Kempton Street needs to be plowed wider, once the parking ban is lifted cars won’t be able to park on the main street due to snow on the curb and there are several handicap spaces that need to be plowed

  35. Thank you to all the emergency personnel that came to our city to help our hard working emergency service team. May you be blessed adundantly!

  36. People, PLEASE!
    Yes, this was a hell of a storm “but” unlike the last blizzard of similar proportions, we were warned it was coming, & we knew it was likely to be bad!
    Unlike 1978’s event, we had warnings of what we might expect, even though we did get more! As New Englanders we know that no weather event is going to go as planned & that is one thing we know that we need to plan for!
    Weaver Street was initially plowed Thursday around noon, & this afternoon (Saturday) a front-end loader came & cleaned where he could, (& I mean cleaned), all of the street where cars were not parked. He cleaned the street & the sides of the mounds, widening the street, & even taking the snow away from where it got pushed into the front of the driveways!
    I didn’t get a chance to thank him then, but hope he sees this, “Thank You!”

  37. Here is an idea. We have 6 wards in our city.. each have street maps for voting purposes..Why hasn’t Mayors office DPI and the ward councilors figured out a logistical support data system with those ward street maps . If a system was in place after this unprecedented storm those street maps would of been key for plow drivers so when that street/ area they are assigned was cleared they in turn could text/call whomever is in charge so they would be able to update the street maps . This was unnecessary chaos. There must be a way to implement a system on City of New Bedford website with each of the 6 ward street maps that residents can view in real time to see what been cleared and what has not. If a street has not let a resident report it by way online. once reported then at least other residents of this city will be aware. A color code for streets .. Red not cleared ,Green cleared, yellow to be cleared .. As a resident born and raised 12th generation mayflower descendant .. Come on New Bedford Do Better.. My hope is a system like I said above will be implemented in some fashion as it will save the City the headache and residents unnecessary chaos. Thank You

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